"High Adventure: The Pioneering Aerial Photographs of
Mary Upjohn Meader"   by Monica Barnes

On September 16, 1937, Mary Upjohn took off from Kalamazoo, Michigan. Still in her 20s, she was beginning a pioneering flight that brought her over three continents. In the pilot's seat was her first husband, surgeon and future American Geographical Society President Richard Upjohn Light (1902-1994). Mary was the co-pilot, radio operator, and photographer. The goal was to make a record of South American and African land forms, city plans, farms, mines, and industrial installations.

Aerial photography was still relatively new in the late 1930s. Although photos had been taken from balloons from the mid-nineteenth century, slow film and plates and unreliable airships inhibited development until World War I, when photos taken from the air became essential to military intelligence. During the 1920s and 30s air photography progressed rapidly but many parts of the world had still not been photographed from above.

Air passenger travel, air mail and air freight had been launched in both South America and Africa by the late 1930s. This provided an infrastructure of landing fields and basic aeronautical services. Fields were small, unsurfaced, and usually lacked hangars. Frequently pilots were beyond radio range and had no access to weather reports. When Richard and Mary landed at the Kampala Airport on December 17, 1937, they were piloting only the third plane to ever arrive there. see images and read full story

Women In Photography International Distinguished Photographer's Award - 2005
Carrie Mae Weems

Women In Photography International is happy to announce Carrie Mae Weems the recipient of our 2005 Distinguished Photographers Award. Since Weems early involvement in Women In Photography, her photography career has prospered and is world-renowned. Weems uses narrative elements in her photography to examine class and gender issues through the window of personal experience and African-American heritage. ...

"My responsibility as an artist is to work, to sing for my supper, to make art, beautiful and powerful, that adds and reveals; to beautify the mess of a messy world, to heal the sick and feed the helpless; to shout bravely from the rooftops and storm barricaded doors and voice the specificity of our historical moment." --Carrie Mae Weems
Image: Carrie Mae Weems in her Self Portrait "I looked and looked to see what so terrified you." From her installation "Louisiana Project."   

Women In Photography - Thea Litsios and Orah Moore remember Carrie and the 1981 first WIP gatherings in Los Angeles with pictures and letters

http://www.womeninphotography.org/historical/WIPIhistory2.html#thea             

See bio, text and images   continued

Women In Photography International Distinguished Photographer's
Award - 2005
* - Carrie Mae Weems

Women In Photography International is pleased to announce Carrie Mae Weems the recipient of our 2005 Distinguished Photographers Award.
click here

Sylvia Plachy - Distinguished Photographer 2004

presented in New York City, the Lucie Awards presentation at the American Airlines Theatre, October 18, 2004
See Press Release

The Awards Backstage - page 1
The Presentation, page 2
Adrien Brody Video Clip - page 3
The Private Party - page 4
winners and presenters

Annie Leibovitz - Distinguished Photographer 2003 read article
Women In Photography International Distinguished Photographers Award
Lucie Awards - December 7, 2003   See photos from GALA event